GNU Emacs vs VSCodium
GNU Emacs
gnu.org
VSCodium
vscodium.comSide by side
| Figure | GNU Emacs | VSCodium |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Go IDEs | 8.8 (#2) | 8.0 (#16) |
| Spec score · Code editors | 8.9 (#4) | 8.8 (#5) |
| Spec score · Editor Software | 8.7 (#4) | 8.0 (#21) |
| Editor type | It is a customizable text editor with an Emacs Lisp interpreter at its core. | desktop |
| Extension support | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Product type | GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable, free/libre text editor and more. | A community-driven binary distribution of Microsoft's VS Code editor. |
| Supported platforms | GNU/Linux, BSDs, Haiku, Windows, macOS, and Android. | Available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. |
Plans
In their own words
VSCodium
VSCodium is a community-built distribution of Microsoft's VS Code editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop computers. Its binaries are licensed under MIT, and telemetry is disabled. The project aims to make the latest MIT-licensed VS Code version easier to obtain; users can also build from Microsoft's vscode repository. Project scripts clone the repository, create binaries, and upload them to GitHub releases. The editor supports extensions, a built-in debugger, remote development, and language servers. Installation routes vary by system: macOS has a Homebrew cask, while Windows supports Windows Package Manager, Chocolatey, and Scoop. Documented Linux packages or repositories cover Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL, Arch, Gentoo, and others. VSCodium is also available through Snap as Codium, Flathub as a Flatpak, and Nixpkgs, and it is pre-installed in Parrot OS. Windows code signing is provided free by SignPath.io with a SignPath Foundation certificate; a macOS certificate was provided by @daiyam. The project directs package-manager issues to the related repository.